Threats, violence and hunger: the story of the gymnast who achieved the first 10 in the history of the Olympic Games

Threats, violence and hunger: the story of the gymnast who achieved the first 10 in the history of the Olympic Games

August 15, 2024 – 21:00

She overcame abuse and a brutal regime to achieve the first perfect 10 in Olympic history, and later found refuge in the United States.

The whole world enjoyed the Olympics and is waiting for the beginning of the Paralympic Games. Each medal or diploma is celebrated by thousands of fans without knowing that some athletes are harassed to get them.Nadia Comaneciafter achieving his historic perfect 10 in Montreal 1976, emigrated to the United States, where he can enjoy the sport freely.

Comaneci achieved excellence at the age of 14 at the Olympic Games, where she obtained three gold medals, one silver and one bronze. Her achievements continued at Moscow 1980, cementing her as a sporting legend. However, behind these successes was a bloody training regime which included beatings, lack of food and shouting imposed by his trainer Bela Karolyi and that the Romanian federation did not want to see.

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Nadia Comaneci is the athlete who, in order to win gold at the Olympic Games, was subjected to brutal training that led her to escape and ask for political asylum in the United States.

Nadia Comaneci is the athlete who, in order to win gold at the Olympic Games, was subjected to brutal training that led her to escape and ask for political asylum in the United States.

The story of Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian gymnast who suffered the horror

Since he was old enough to walk, Nadia Comaneci He demonstrated a devotion to the sport. Artistic gymnastics It became her passion, so her parents decided to enroll her in a school so she could learn that discipline. Several decades later, Nadia herself would tell the world that in order to achieve gold she suffered beatings, went hungry and was pathologically harassed.

In Onesti, a mining town in Romania, girls from the age of six faced the rigid Károlyi system, characterized by insults, physical punishment and poor nutrition. Declassified documents from the Romanian secret police reveal the severity of the methods applied to Nadia and hundreds of other athletes who trained under Károlyi’s violence. According to testimonies, gymnasts often experienced physical violence and severe deprivation, even going to extreme lengths to satisfy hunger. Nadia, in particular, suffered immense suffering under this regime, recounted in reports describing inhumane conditions and continued abuse.

After her retirement, Comaneci lived under strict surveillance during the communist dictatorship in her country and only traveled if she was accompanied by the police because she had become a star that the dictatorship did not want to lose sight of. In 1989, together with other athletes, he managed to escape and requested political asylum in USA, country where he lives to this day. His story, despite the Károlyis’ denials, exposes a dark chapter in the world of sport, where success often concealed an immense personal cost.

Source: Ambito

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